1. Field
One or more embodiments relate to measuring a concentration of a component in a biochemical sample such as serum, and estimating reliability of a test result using the measuring method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A microfluidic device used in microfluidic operations in which a small amount of fluid is used includes a chamber in which a small amount of fluid can be accommodated, a channel through which the fluid can flow, and a valve for controlling the flow of the fluid.
In order to transport the fluid within the microfluidic device, an operational pressure is needed. Examples of the operational pressure are a capillary pressure or a pressure produced using a pump. Recently, a disk-shaped microfluidic device which drives a fluid by using a centrifugal force generated by rotating the disk-shaped microfluidic device and which includes a chamber and a channel has been proposed. This type of disk-shaped microfluidic device is referred to as a lab compact disk (CD) or a lab-on-a-CD.
The disk-shaped microfluidic device may be used to measure the concentration of a particular component in blood. That is, by separating blood plasma or serum from blood and reacting a reagent that reacts with a particular component in blood with the separated blood plasma or the serum, the concentration of the particular component can be measured based on the reaction result.
Concentrations of several components among various components in blood are known to influence the reliability of the measurement of concentrations of other components of blood. For example, it is known that if the hemoglobin concentration in blood is too high or if there is hemolysis, measurement results of concentrations of components such as lactate dehydrogenase (LD), potassium (K), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), etc. are higher than the real values. Components that affect the reliability of concentration measurement of other components are referred to as inhibitors. In addition to hemoglobin, bilirubin and lipid are also known as inhibitors.
These inhibitors may be contained in a biochemical sample, or may be generated when the biochemical sample is extracted. In order to examine the accuracy and reliability of a blood test, concentrations of the inhibitors need to be exactly measured.